Tetsujin niju-hachigo

Quite a few adults will remember the exciting Japanese Cartoon, Gigantor. This black and white show with simplistic animation and wacky voice acting was one of the first of the now popular Japanese Anime shows to be produced and also one of the first to make it to the United States.

Although dead here, Gigantor lives on in Japan as a cultural icon similar to how we view classic heroes like Superman, though across the Pacific Gigantor is known as Tetsujin 28 (Iron Man 28).

If you have any fond memories of Gigantor, this film will really bring them out. The characters and robots are designed specifically to look like their cartoon counterparts and though the tone is a little more serious than the cartoon had ever gotten the movie will still have you recalling the old show with the silly looking robots punching each other back and forth and chucking one another into buildings.

The story is slow at parts and the robot fighting becomes less exciting as the movie wears on once the initial shock has worn off. That's not to say it isn't' impressive. The evil robot "Black Ox" will definitely have you drooling during his first attack on Tokyo.

Although the robot computer generated graphics is odd at first, the sense of scale is incredible and far superior than most live action Japanese movies of this type (Name just about any Japanese giant monster movie). The acting is dry occasionally, and at times there is a lot of over-acting but keep in mind that this is a kids movie.

Even so, if you're a fan of Gigantor you owe it to yourself to import a copy of this movie since it's doubtful we'll see it in the States. If you don't have many fond memories for the flying-metal-Homer-Simpson of a robot then you might want to stay away from this one.

Oh well, this is hard for me to say this is a good robot movie because it is not that good nor bad but a "just okay" movie. There are some cheesy fight which you realise that some part of the robots' fighting are using toys. The story is Tokyo is under devastating attack by the ominous Black Ox. Nobody can stop this madness but there only one robot that can stop it. Tetsujin 28! A "chosen boy", Shotaro Kaneda must outcome his fears to control Tetsujin 28. I am not a fan of the Tetsujin 28 anime series but I thought the live-action was good as I almost like all the anime to be brought alive. I realised that they talked as much as they want but the fighting of the robots looked like it was rush into it. Anyway, I quite like this, the CG effects of the robots. I will watch it to kill two hours when I am bored. This is only on VCD in Singapore.